I love that the focus of Burnout 1 is actually skilled driving - racing on "real" roads where traffic is a major threat (i.e no traffic checking as in some later games).

The main downside was that the arcade style time-limit absolutely ruined multiplayer. If a friend wasn't good at the game, they'd get locked out after failing to reach a checkpoint in time and you'd have to quit the entire race and start again to let them play more. This sort of mechanic is designed to bait more quarters out of players' pockets, not to create a fun experience for a player.